Freddie Gray: Baltimore prosecutor angry after autopsy report is leaked to newspaper

His death while in police custody prompted widespread and violent street protests

The leaking to a Baltimore paper of the autopsy into the April death of Freddie Gray while in police custody has infuriated the city’s top prosecutor, even though its findings appear to back up her decision to prosecute the six officers involved, one among them for second-degree murder.

“I strongly condemn anyone with access to trial evidence who has leaked information prior to the resolution of this case,” the State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, said after details of the autopsy report found their way into the pages of The Baltimore Sun.

Mr Gray, an African-American, was arrested and bundled into a police van on 12 April. His death one week later prompted widespread and eventually violent street protests, adding Baltimore to the roster of US cities afflicted in the past several months by race-related strife.

The autopsy report says he suffered from a single “high-energy injury” to his neck and spine consistent with his suffering an unsupported fall in the van as it was moving. It says that because Mr Gray was not belted in but had his wrists and ankles shackled he was “at risk from a fall during acceleration and deceleration” of the van. In a key passage, the report asserts that his death could not be ruled an accident but was rather a homicide because of the “acts of omission” committed by the officers.